Wolves come up just short in sectional final

REGIONAL- The Ely Timberwolves had another trip to the state tournament within their reach on Wednesday, until they didn’t, as the Chisholm Bluestreaks rallied from five points down to win the fifth game 16-14 and punch their own ticket to St. Paul.

As expected, the Section 7A final at Rock Ridge between the ninth-ranked Bluestreaks and tenth-ranked Wolves was a torrid affair in front of a packed gym and regional streaming audience. Chisholm prevailed in five sets in their regular season matchup with Ely, and another barnburner was in store.

Chisholm landed the first blow with a 25-21 win in the opening set, but Ely punched back in the second, winning 25-19. The Bluestreaks went back on top 2-1 with a 25-16 triumph in the third.

Chisholm was on pace to wrap up the match leading 17-14 in the fourth, but the Wolves weren’t going to let their dream of making their fourth trip to state in the past five years slip away so easily. Charlotte Hegman scored against a Chisholm block to tie the game at 18-18, and did so again to knot the score at 19-19. A kill by Lydia Shultz put the Wolves ahead 21-20, Violet Udovich came to the fore down the stretch, getting a block and a pair of kills to send the match to a fifth set with a 25-22 Ely win.

With the Wolves fans going wild, Ely carried that momentum into the final set, with another Shultz kill giving the Wolves a seemingly commanding five point lead at 10-5. But after a Chisholm time-out, kills by  the Bluestreaks’ Ashley Panichi and Kenzie Pender forced Ely Head Coach Megan Bialik to call a time out to halt a momentum change, and the move was successful as Ely re-established a five-point lead at 12-7.

But Chisholm pulled back to within 12-10, leading to another Ely time out. A Bluestreaks miscue put Ely up 13-10, but then Chisholm reeling off four consecutive points to grab a 14-13 edge. With the crowd noise off the charts, Udovich knotted the game at 14-14. But a volley by Chisholm’s Auvryana Worlie hit the tape and fell to the floor for a point, and Sloen Worlie fired an ace to complete the comeback and end the Wolves’ season at 26-5.
It was the final match of their careers for seniors Gretta Lowe, Ruby Lowe, Lydia Shultz, Peyton Huntington, Charlotte Hegman, Audrey Kallberg, and Amelia Penke, but with Violet Udovich headlining a group of five returning varsity players and a deep junior varsity bench of juniors and sophomores, the Wolves will be in a strong position to chase another title again next year.